Friday, November 4, 2016

Me on Blood for Blood

Death camp survivor Yael, who has the power to skinshift, is on the run: the world has just seen her shoot and kill Hitler. But the truth of what happened is far more complicated, and its consequences are deadly. Yael and her unlikely comrades dive into enemy territory to try to turn the tide against the New Order, and there is no alternative but to see their mission through to the end, whatever the cost. But dark secrets reveal dark truths, and one question hangs over them all: how far can you go for the ones you love?

Blood for Blood is a fight for survival and freedom, a mission to uncover the secrets of the most dangerous man and reveal them to the world. But the truth isn't always what it seems.

For Yael, the race is on. A far more important, more deadly race than the previous one she just rode through fields and over mountains. It's time to warn the Resistance, to let them know they plan didn't quite work out how they thought it would. It's time to find answers. Why? How? What now? How many will die because of what happened, because some weren't ready? Because some were traitors and some were worried about their families. It's up to Yael now to go back to Germania, to uncover the secrets behind her own experimentation and reveal the truth. Even if it costs her her life.

It's easy for me to read this and feel horrified, feel disgusted at the atrocities committed in this fictional version of our history. It's easy to condemn most of the German soldiers, easy to sympathize with Yael, with her cause and her mission. Her suffering. It's easy to be afraid of something like this happening now, considering the current political climate of certain large and powerful countries. The worry is thick, a sour taste in the back of my throat. People are being taught to hate those with a different skin colour than theirs, a different religion than theirs. Book like this show how close the line between reality and fiction are blurring faster than we thought they would, and how we need to stop the hate. Fans of the first book will surely be eager to see how Yael's journey ends.

(I received an advance copy of this title to review from Hachette Book Group Canada.)